Las Vegas is known for its bizarre wedding ceremonies, but Shotgun Weddings really do take the cake (pun intended). Generally, a shotgun wedding would refer to a ceremony that has been put together on a spur-of-the moment whim. But now the term has taken on a literal meaning, with the ‘Gun Store on Tropicana’ in Las Vegas actually offering wedding services with a shotgun based theme.

The Shotgun wedding ceremony is certainly unique – instead of the Wedding March, it’s just gunfire in the background as the couple walks down the aisle and exchanges vows. The maid of honor is conveniently substituted by a zombie poster hanging over the bride. There are very few guests, and the reception that follows is celebrated on the shooting range with more gunfire (the couple goes crazy firing a few rounds at targets). Reactions to the shotgun wedding idea are quite varied. Some people call it different, some are actually jealous that they didn’t get to do it themselves. The concept is the brainchild of the store’s marketing director Emily Miller, who just walked into her boss’s office one day and said, “Let’s do weddings!”

As innovative and exciting as shotgun weddings sound, I really doubt a lot of women would want to get married right in the middle of gunfire. It’s a whole different story for men though, I’m sure they would be thrilled, and Miller confirms this; she says the concept is very appealing to guys and they tend to get more involved in the wedding process. Still wondering why that is? Well, for starters, at $500 – 700, it costs next to nothing when compared with regular weddings, and that’s a really strong selling point for most guys. Also, perhaps it’s because after the wedding, the men get to shoot a few rounds to get over the fact that they are now ‘tied down for life’. Well, look on the bright side, at least the couples at this Las Vegas wedding won’t be drunk, as I’m pretty sure the gun store has a policy against operating live weapons while intoxicated.